The heart problem that could have ended Cristiano Ronaldo's career

Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the best footballers of his generation, he has set a lot of records, inspired a lot of next generation footballers but just like his close rival Lionel Messi, he had a health condition that could have ended his career. 

What happened to Cristiano Ronaldo?

At the age of 15, Cristiano Ronaldo was diagnosed with a racing heart, Tachycardia, a condition that caused his heart to beat irregularly and even when resting his heart would beat fast. It is a unique condition where the heart beats rapidly at a rate of usually over 100 beats per minute. It can even happen when the patient is not going through any physical stress so Ronaldo did not have to be playing football for his heart to start beating abnormally.

It might have forced him to give up playing football. He had an operation in which a laser was used to cauterize the area of his heart that was causing the problem. The surgery took place in the morning and Ronaldo was discharged from hospital by the end of the afternoon; he resumed training only a few days later.

What did his mother say about his condition?

Cristiano Ronaldo's mother, Dolores Aveiro said in an interview with Daily Mail in 2009 about the condition and how the surgery went. "His heart raced a lot when he wasn't running. They used a sort of laser to cauterise the source of the problem. He was operated on in the morning and came out at the end of the afternoon.Before we knew exactly what he had, I was worried because there was the possibility of him giving up playing football. But the treatment went well and after some days he was back at training again."

According to his mother, the young Cristiano wasn't deterred by the condition and even after the surgery, it was like he made him run even faster; "Cristiano wasn’t very worried - he didn’t take the situation very seriously - but I got a big fright. It seems the treatment allowed him to run even faster!"

Cristiano Ronaldo overcame the condition and progressed through the youth teams of Sporting Lisbon and earned a move to Manchester United three years later. He has arguably become one of the best of his generation having won everything there is to be won with teams and as an individual.